October 17th, 2011

Superconductivity & Magnetic Levitation is a very interesting and potentially practical discovery. Though not new, these videos from 2009 till now show just how much potential there is for future levitating devices. The most wanted is most likely the hover board.

In the first video, a flux-pinned superconducting puck levitates above a figure-8 track. The puck is accelerated using the motors from a toy race car track set (I used to play with these as a kid). The second video is similar, however Tel-Aviv University demos quantum superconductors locked in a multi-dimensional magnetic field. Cool right?

They’re already in use at Shanghai Pudong International Airport to the metro in Shanghai itself and Japan has grand plans to extend a maglev train line from Tokyo to Nokoya and Osaka in the next 15 years or so. From what little I can gather, I understand it would be incredibly energy efficient in comparison to what’s in place at the moment. There’s a related article on the BBC today, you might find it interesting – http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/9617577.stm